FOREX-Dollar gains from 3-week low as euro, sterling fall

5 Min Read

* Euro eases on declining German investor morale
* Swiss franc drops to lowest since January 2015
* Yen flat against the dollar
* Sterling falls vs dollar as UK worker pay lags inflation
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2018 tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
(Recasts, updates prices, adds comments, changes byline,
dateline)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, April 17 (Reuters) - The dollar rose from a
three-week low on Tuesday, helped by falls in the euro and
sterling, even as investors remained cautious about the
greenback because of tension in the Middle East and a U.S. trade
dispute with China.
"The weakness in the euro and sterling is mainly driving the
dollar higher at this point, although there are other factors as
well," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth
Foreign Exchange in Washington.
Stronger-than-expected U.S. housing starts in March also
helped the dollar, as did a positive reading on industrial
production.
The dollar earlier fell to a three-week low against a
currency basket after President Donald Trump said on Monday that
China and Russia were trying to devalue their currencies.
Investors interpreted Trump's comments as a nod to having a
weaker currency.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, however, clarified Trump's
comments in an interview with CNBC, saying the U.S. president's
remarks were a warning to those countries against devaluing
their currencies.
"The dollar found support from comments from Treasury
Secretary Mnuchin, who dialed back some of the president's
comments from yesterday," Esiner said.
The dollar index, as a result, advanced 0.2 percent to
89.615.
The euro, meanwhile, fell 0.3 percent to $1.2346,
after a monthly survey showed morale among German investors was
deteriorating.
Sterling was also down, slipping 0.2 percent to $1.4314
, hurt by data showing British workers' pay is still
rising by less than inflation despite the lowest unemployment
rate since 1975.
"Today's news did not help the (sterling) bulls as it
clearly showed that the UK economy is slowing, which will make
the task of normalization more difficult for the BoE (Bank of
England)," said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX
strategy at BK Asset Management in New York.
Elsewhere, the Swiss franc fell to its lowest versus the
euro since the Swiss National Bank scrapped its currency peg in
January 2015.
Against the yen, the dollar was flat at 107.11 yen,
off a seven-week high of 107.78 yen touched on Friday, before a
meeting between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on
Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tokyo is eager to avoid being pushed into talks on a two-way
free-trade agreement aimed not only at market access but at
monetary and currency policies.
========================================================
Currency bid prices at 11:18AM (1518 GMT)
Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid
Previous Change
Session
Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.2345 $1.2378 -0.27% +2.91% +1.2413 +1.2338
Dollar/Yen JPY= 107.1200 107.1000 +0.02% -4.93% +107.2000 +106.8900
Euro/Yen EURJPY= 132.25 132.58 -0.25% -2.17% +132.7700 +132.2100
Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9653 0.9598 +0.57% -0.92% +0.9667 +0.9582
Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.4313 1.4335 -0.15% +5.93% +1.4376 +1.4306
Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.2557 1.2563 -0.05% -0.16% +1.2579 +1.2540
Australian/Doll AUD= 0.7771 0.7778 -0.09% -0.38% +0.7791 +0.7761
ar
Euro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.1918 1.1880 +0.32% +1.96% +1.1931 +1.1882
Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.8624 0.8633 -0.10% -2.92% +0.8647 +0.8620
NZ NZD= 0.7334 0.7361 -0.37% +3.50% +0.7372 +0.7327
Dollar/Dollar
Dollar/Norway NOK= 7.7672 7.7731 -0.08% -5.36% +7.7872 +7.7580
Euro/Norway EURNOK= 9.5907 9.6243 -0.35% -2.61% +9.6410 +9.5925
Dollar/Sweden SEK= 8.4115 8.4154 -0.32% +2.56% +8.4272 +8.4007
Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 10.3861 10.4191 -0.32% +5.56% +10.4450 +10.3860
(Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano in TOKYO
Editing by Larry King and Steve Orlofsky)